Brazil Trip - Final Stop

The last leg of my trip to Brazil this year was at the Shalon Church in Curitiba. Curitiba is a major commercial center of 2 million people in the southern part of Parana State. Shalon (we would spell it Shalom) Church is a cell-based church of over 1,500 members with 800+ active cell groups. The pastor, Pastor Ojilon, is the brother who disciples Pastor Enoc of The Baptist Church of Glory in Londrina, and it was upon Pastor Enoc's recommendation that I was asked to speak there. There was an "Encontra" in progress that weekend for married couples alumni. Pastor Eno and his wife, Helena, were participating in this "reunion," and Pastor Ojilon and I had only a limited amount of time to spend together. I was able, however, to share the vision for Missions from Brazil the Lord gave to us in 2004, and he was extremely receptive. He also earnestly desired that I share my concept of the Four Pillars of Revival that I had been sharing with the other pastors, leaders and churches during this visit to Londrina and Marilia.

Before meeting Pastor Ojilon prior to my speaking at the Sunday morning service (6/29), we had not yet met. I had ministered to two of their four worship teams on Saturday afternoon. In additon, I was scheduled to speak at a special service for "jovens," i.e. adolescents and young adults Saturday night. Whenever we serve others, we must always be prepared to be flexible, gracious and to be "ready in season and out!" On the way to the church, my interpreter, Monica, informed me that "oops!" They had double-booked for that evening! I think that what happened was that Pastor Ojilon, in desiring to be gracious to me, had scheduled me to speak at this service "at the last minute," because the other event was a whol team of young people that had been booked several months ago to minister that night.

They do awesome dramatic presentations in Brazil, and this group was scheduled, after the worship session, to do a dramatic presentation followed by a message from the leader of this ministry team; they had traveled a full day's journey from the far northern area of Brazil. Therefore, they asked if I could bring just a short exhortation of about 15 minutes before they turned the service over to their other guests.

The next morning, Sunday, was my first opportunity to meet Pastor Ojilon, but before I was introduced to him, he was greeted by the leaders of both the worship teams and the young people to whom we had ministered the day before. They reported to him that they were so impacted by the brief times of ministry that they wanted him to hear what I had shared with them. Unaware of all of this, we flowed in the morning service with the Word, and many people responded to our invitation for ministry and impartation and several dozen surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

After the service we drove about 45 minutes out of the city to their camp. Following a time of foot-washing and prayer, Pastor Ojilon asked me to bring a "greting" to the married couples at the Encouter. I ministered very briefly, less than 15 minutes on God's commands to us as husbands, wives and parent from Ephesians 5 and Deuteronomy 6.

That evening, when Pastor Ojilon introduced me to the congregation, he shared with them the impact our ministry had on those of the worship team, the young adults and the married couples. He shared that some of the things that he had heard and received that afternoon were new and exciting to him - things he had never heard taught in his 20+ years of ministry! He then turned to me and, through the interpreter, asked me to not share what I had prepared for that night. Instead, he asked that I share with the entire church the full message of which I had shared just a part with the young people the night before.

I ministered on Spiritual Warfare and the Strategic Assaults of Satan in our day - the assaults of and our response to: (1) aggressive, virulent atheism in our schools and universities aimed at stealing the faith of our children, youth and young adults, (2) a militant homosexual agenda aimed at legalizing homosexual marriages in order to destroy marriage and the family as we know it which, in turn, is the foundation of the Church, and (3) radical Islamic jihad, both physical, economic and cultural (legal attempts to permeate our schools and communities). The response to the Word was, once again, powerful as the front of the church filled with those seeking impartation and making a full commitment to become engaged in warfare for and under the banner of Christ Jesus, the King!

I hope to receive a DVD of the video they recorded of that service, and if I do, I will make it available to you as soon as possible.

Once again, I cannot thank you enough for your love, prayers and financial support. May God, our Father, the Messiah Jesus and the presence of the Holy Ghost be with you to bless and empower you and your family day by day!

Hallelujah!!